Haryana State PCS

• 02 Mar 2024

Haryana Antarrashtriya Gita Jayanti Mela Authority Bill, 2024

Why in News?

Recently, the Haryana Assembly passed ‘Haryana Antarrashtriya Gita Jayanti Mela Authority Bill, 2024’ to set up an independent authority for organising the annual Gita Jayanti Mahotsav and for popularising and disseminating teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

Key Points

• A large number of devotees and people at large, both from the country and abroad, enthusiastically involve themselves with the local people during the period of Mahotsav. Currently, there is no independent authority/body in the state to organise the Gita Jayanti Mahotsav.
• According to the bill, the main functions of the authority will be to popularise and disseminate the teachings of Srimad Bhagavad Gita as well as organise cultural and educational seminars, workshops, fairs, exhibitions and conferences.
• The authority shall consist of members, including the chief minister as its chairperson and the urban local bodies minister as the senior vice-chairperson. There will be one vice chairperson, who will be an eminent and distinguished person, to be nominated by the state government.
• Gita Jayanti festival has been celebrated over the years and the Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB) has been organising the event.
  • KDB will function as before. But a new authority will specifically take care of how to expand this festival further on a global scale and take the message of Bhagavad Gita to the entire world.

Gita Jayanti Mahotsav

• The Celebration of Gita Mahotsav brings a moral and cultural resurgence among the people.
• The prime objective of celebrating the festival of Gita Jayanti is to enlighten the people by the immortal and intangible heritage of Bhagavad Gita- the song celestial.
• The Government of Haryana is Celebrating Gita Mahotsav festival in collaboration with the KDB in the city of Kurukshetra since 1989.

Haryana Passes Bill Aimed to Curb Illegal Immigration

Why in News?

Recently, the Haryana Assembly passed a bill aimed to curb illegal immigration along with Haryana Registration and Regulation of Private Coaching Institutes Bill, Haryana State Sports Associations (Registration and Regulation) Bill, and the Hisar Metropolitan Development Authority Bill.

Key Points

• According to the provisions of the Haryana Registration and Regulation of Travel Agents Bill, whoever attempts or is found involved in human smuggling or found involved in the preparation of forged documents, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to 10 years and shall also be liable to pays fines between Rs 2-5 lakh.
• The state assembly also passed the Haryana Registration and Regulation of Private Coaching Institutes Bill, 2024.
  • Under the provisions of the bill, a private coaching violating the proposed law, 'shall be liable for each such violation with a fine of Rs 25,000 for the first violation and Rs 1 lakh for the subsequent violation. And in case the violation still continues then the registration of private coaching institutes shall be canceled'.
  • The 'private coaching institute' means an institute in a single premises which includes a tuition centre established, run or administered by any person or body of persons, a company, society or trust providing study programmes for competitive examinations, but does not include individual home tuition up to 50 students per day.
• The House also passed the Haryana State Sports Associations (Registration and Regulation) Bill, 2024, to oversee the registration and regulation of working of sports associations by establishing regulatory bodies at both the state and regional levels.
• The Hisar Metropolitan Development Authority Bill, 2024 was also passed according to which, rapid growth of Hisar metropolitan area and its emergence as a nucleus for economic development has thrown up challenges in urban governance, infrastructure deficit, decentralized decision making, and independently created townships which if ignored can affect the quality of life and well-being of the citizens of Hisar.